A few thoughts.

[damekmo@teleport.com]

Just a few thoughts. It's long, but what the hell. I'm a veteran.

>Pitino has said that Walker has Magic Johnson-like skills, so why
>not utilize them? Walker has shown that he is capable of playing
>the point in the past.

How about they trade Pierce and the pick or Pierce and somebody else for a
real point guard. That way the 6'9" pf wouldn't be the only legitimate
point guard on the team, and Pierce, as someone on-list wrote, "could be a
better player without Walker." Yeah....just like Ron Mercer. And speaking
of Mercer, just when you think my insane uncle is going to get it right, he
misses the point again. "Bitter Peter" writes in this morning's Globe:
"Looking at Ron Mercer since he joined Orlando, it's hard not to see a guy
who may be in for a big shock this summer." He's right about that. I'd add
that things weren't working out so well for Ron in Denver, but let's not
quibble. "Crazy Peter" really gets it wrong with: "His shooting, always his
strong suit, is awful." His shooting was "never" his strong suit because
he's such a selfish player. His shooting was "the problem" for the team,
for "every" team he's been on. He shoots, he shoots, he shoots and that's
all he seemingly wants to do. And speaking of Paul "I worked out hard all
summer and still regressed this year" Pierce, here's an update on Allen
Iverson's injuries: "Besides the injured elbow, Iverson has a partially
torn rotator cuff and broken big toe. He's still led the Sixers within two
victories of their first 50-win season since 1989-90 with two to play."
Iverson's a spectacular, determined, tough-minded player. That's a leader!
Again, how many excuses did....ahhhhh, screw it, I'll keep it short and
sweet. Antoine Walker is, without a doubt, a terribly inconsistent player.
But there are games, there have been stretches this season, especially when
he passes the ball well, where he is a dominating player on the floor,
where he's unquestionably, by far, the best player on the team and the
player most responsible for whatever success or hope for success the team
has. How many times have we read something similar to the following from
Bill Cooper this year:"Pierce: as usual, had big problems applying pressure
to Jones on the perimeter....Pierce shot the ball poorly himself at 4-14,
but made up at least part of the deficit by going 9-13 on free throws." Has
Pierce passed the ball well at all this year? Where's his outside shot?
Where's his defense? It's a joke to call Pierce the team's "best player",
which is all Peter "It used to be Ron Mercer" May said last year. And to be
honest, it was incredibly generous of Antoine to say it, when he must've
known it wasn't true. OK...perhaps it was true at the time, but it hasn't
been true for a while now, for quite a while now....perhaps since
mid-December-quite a while now.  If a team needs at least two star players
to compete for anything other than a first round exit in the playoffs, get
rid of Walker and you still need two. You can make an argument that without
Pierce they still need two, but Walker's a lot closer to being one of them
than Pierce. Pierce simply isn't tough enough, tough-minded enough, or
determined enough to lead a team to anything substantial. He's no Allen
Iverson, to say the least...not even close. The bottom-line I think, if you
have to trade one of Walker or Pierce, trade Pierce before the league finds
out he's a regressing fraud and his first year was a fluke. I'm not saying
he doesn't have the talent. Paul Pierce doesn't have the "heart." His trade
value will never be higher. And finally, Kenny Anderson. As that screw-ball
Ronald Reagan once said,"There you go again." From this morning's Globe:
''Everybody says we need a big guy in the middle, but they're not out
there,'' said Anderson. ''We lost a lot of games because of breakdowns and
maybe if I lead more by example next season we can avoid more of the
same.'' What! Is he a crack-pot? He's been saying that a lot lately, and I
just want to smack him around every time I hear it. How long did it take
the "veteran" point guard to figure out that "leading by example" might be
a good thing? Isn't that why Ricky acquired him? Isn't that what
"veterans," especially veteran "point guards" do? Does he need a daily "To
do" list with "You're the veteran point guard so lead by example," written
at the top of every page? What good has he been this year?

I'm cranky and this team gives me a headache. When's the draft?

Paul M.